GUITAR BOARD

Hi all
Ive been asked by the wifes sister to teach my 11 year old niece
some guitar.
She already plays clarinet by reading music (but is bored with it) and
is a good singer.
Before her mum and dad shell out for an acoustic, (lets face it at 11
it could be a fad) they asked if I could teach her as at present,
there are no places in the guitar lessons at her school.
My starting point seems to be showing her the basic chord shapes (E A
D), and getting the right hand to make a nice easy rhythic stroke
using a pick. My plan would be to increase the chord library (C G Em
Am etc..) and some basic chord theory with a view to her being able to
play a few Avril Lavine songs, my theory being that if she can play/
sing her fave songs quite quickly, it will generate more relevence and
interest.
Is this method is a good one? I dont want to start her off on the
wrong foot. What do you think??

Graze

Hi Graze

My own experience of teaching children music is that there is one vital
ingredient. It has to be fun.......
If she is getting bored with the clarinet its probably because the fun
element has gone out of it. Maybe get her to learn the melody on the
clarinet as well as the guitar chords and record her playing both parts. It
may well spark her interest again in the clarinet and in music in general.
Otherwise what you are suggesting sounds great. If she shows some talent,
commitment and perseverance then look at a more structured approach but
otherwise make it fun.fun.fun.....

Good luck
Ian


Graze wrote in message
news:96b192e6-d820-4708-b94b-9273296d9780@f47g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...

iannuages wrote in message
news:PQnij.21758$O01.2227@newsfe6-win.ntli.net...


I only learnt to play after Id heard something particular I wanted to do.
If you find out if theres anything *particular* she wants to do, youre
halfway there. Chords shapes are worth knowing how to do but if she already
plays an instrument, explaining how chords are built could be OK, so she can
work out her own triads etc.

icarusi
--

remove 00 to reply

Graze wrote:

My niece is learning classical guitar at school and (as youd expect)
there are no chords at all, just individual notes, time signatures and
reading music.

Its terribly, terribly dull, and because of this she never picks up the
thing outside school.

Id teach her all the major, minor, and seventh chords (get a wall
chart), with barre forms, and then get some sheet music for her fave
artist where she can just use the chords to start off with. If she
needs something odd like a major 7th or a minor 6th, its usually
pictured in the book anyway. She already knows how to read music, so
knocking out chords isnt quite such a Bad Thing as it might otherwise be.

When shes become attached to the instrument, you can do scales and note
positions; then she can use her clarinet knowledge if she wants.

A curious thing is that some proper musicians dont really understand
chords; my wife teaches piano and has never heard of a dominant seventh
or a suspended fourth, even though she plays them all the time.

Graze wrote:

Hi all
Ive been asked by the wifes sister to teach my 11 year old niece
some guitar.
She already plays clarinet by reading music (but is bored with it) and
is a good singer.
Before her mum and dad shell out for an acoustic, (lets face it at 11
it could be a fad) they asked if I could teach her as at present,
there are no places in the guitar lessons at her school.
My starting point seems to be showing her the basic chord shapes (E A
D), and getting the right hand to make a nice easy rhythmic stroke
using a pick. My plan would be to increase the chord library (C G Em
Am etc..) and some basic chord theory with a view to her being able to
play a few Avril Lavine songs, my theory being that if she can play/
sing her fave songs quite quickly, it will generate more relevance and
interest.
Is this method is a good one? I dont want to start her off on the
wrong foot. What do you think??

I have a few young students just now and offer the following points re
teaching an 11-year-old:
Her physical size might be a problem with acoustic guitar - a dreadnought is
rather large for a lot of young beginners and they can experience problems
reaching over the body with the right arm to play. This can cause them to
try holding the guitar at too tilted an angle which in turn can put a lot of
stress on the left wrist (assuming a right-handed player).
Two of my present students are at present happier to play without a pick,
using thumb to play (we are working towards adding picking fingers too!).
They find the pick an extra skill to learn just when they are beginning.
Go with the chords as you suggest, strumming with thumb to start. Use her
knowledge of music to keep her interested and as she has been a clarinet
player and therefore playing single-note stuff, there is scope to introduce
lead playing on the guitar too - and without the problems of transposing a
whole tone.
The key is to get her interest quickly and then to sustain it. Many young
players, and many older ones too, seek an instant fix, but balance against
this the need for good technique in both hands. The guitar suffers because
we see so many folk playing it in popular music (and often very badly) so we
feel it is an easy instrument to get a noise out of, whereas the clarinet
requires a different approach.

John Kelly

In article ,
Zog The Undeniable wrote:


Ditto for my niece. They seemed to spend the first year or so playing
very simple melodies involving the open strings and a couple of fretted
notes. All the while, they were held back by a teacher who seemed more
interested in perfect execution (among 9-year-olds playing 3/4-size
shitty nylon-strings, FFS!) than of having fun making music.

I think theyve got a different teacher who will probably let them move
on a bit more quickly, but the source material is still the same
dreadful beginner guitar book. Probably written by the same sort of
people who have completely forgotten what music is for.


That has a lot to do with a classical upbringing... although plenty of
classical players understand theory, they have the opportunity to ignore
it, simply concentrating on playing the right notes.


adrian

--
http://www.spaghetti-factory.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/adrianclarkmusic

Zog The Undeniable wrote:


That is not suprising. I did classical piano up to grade 4, and there
was never a mention of a chord in the way you would have it on a
guitar. There are many things that are chord like, but something such as
a dominant seventh chord would not come up.

--
Woody

www.alienrat.com

Graze wrote:


I could give you a run down of how things went when my own kids started
with lessons but it would be a loooong message.

Let me know if you want to read it.